Wake Up Call
by Arcole
Summary: Julia and Danziger head out to bring Devon out of cold sleep while Morgan and Zeke brave the dangerous predators to bring in the lost perimeter alert sensors. My Season 2, Episode 8. They make more sense in order.
1. Chapter 1

Wake Up Call

**Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Earth 2. I get nothing from this but personal satisfaction. But I do claim invention of Zeke, whom I have grown to love. **

Chapter One

_Julia VO: Day 173. Julia Heller, medical log. I have synthesized the necessary components for an altered serum which should deactivate the terraforming particles that are causing Devon's illness. Her situation is more precarious, however, due to the advanced state of her deterioration and the added complication of awakening from cold sleep. Her system must respond immediately and dramatically to the serum for her to stand any chance of survival. To that end, I have experimented further with DNA samples harvested from Uly. I believe their ability to enhance metabolism and speed recovery could be her best hope of surviving long enough to complete the treatment. I only hope the Terrians have no objection to this course of action. _

Julia waited anxiously a few steps behind Alonzo as he spoke/Dreamed with the Terrian who'd been their most constant liaison with the local tribe. Out of all the metabolism enhancers and system boosters she'd worked with, the one she'd concocted from Uly's DNA seemed to have the best chance of helping his mother. There would be side effects of the treatment, she felt certain, but those side effects would be acceptable if the treatment bought Devon the time she needed to heal.

Finally, Alonzo nodded to the Terrian and turned back to her as the Terrian slipped away again into the earth.

"He says the tribe has agreed," Alonzo breathed in relief. "They understand the necessity of bringing some of their healing to Devon, even if it isn't the way they'd do it. They trust you to handle it well." He gave her a little smile.

She permitted herself a smile of relief. "I will be so glad when all this is behind us and I can just practice regular medicine," she sighed.

"You'll never practice regular medicine again," Alonzo teased as he led her back across the grounds. "You've gone way past regular. I'd say you were up to extraordinary."

"If the guys can get the rover ready, we'll get the chance to see just how extraordinary G889 medicine can be," Julia responded, then looked up at Alonzo with hope and relief in her eyes. "We're ready to go revive Devon."

**Roll opening credits. **

Next to the workshop area, the dunerail circled and stopped next to the large, heavy transrover. John Danziger extracted himself from the smaller buggy and bent down to peer into the dark shadows underneath the rover where Walman and Zeke, the reclaimed ZED, were busily reassembling the

mining vehicle's transmission.

"How's it going there, guys?" he asked brightly.

"We're nearly there," Walman grunted.

"Got room for me to crawl under and see what you've got?" Danziger asked.

"Sure, come ahead," Walman replied, scooting slightly to one side to make room.

Danziger crawled beneath the large vehicle, the smell of various oils and lubricants scenting the air with their comfortable chemical odor. Whatever else was going on in his life, the world of the mechanical was stable, predictable. Certainly it was complex at times and offered challenges and creative opportunities one wouldn't normally expect, but it was a familiar challenge, an old friend in time of trouble.

Danziger scanned the underside of the rover, noting the modifications Zeke and Walman had made. "This is looking good, guys," he stated. "I wish everything could be fixed this way."

"I know what you mean," Zeke offered from the other side. "If all our problems could be solved with the right size driver bit, the world would be a better place."

"I gave you a number two," Walman interjected. "Didn't it work?"

"No, there's too much play in it," Zeke responded evenly. "Do you have a three?"

"Our three went missing somewhere between the crash site and the biodome," Danziger tried to keep his cool about it, but the missing number three driver still haunted him. He knew it had been safely stowed in the small toolbox when he used it to fix the dunerail's charge modulator after he and Devon returned from their ill-fated hunt for water. After that, it was anybody's guess when it disappeared.

Walman, Baines, and True, his three prime suspects, all sincerely declared their innocence. Nobody else in the group even knew the difference between a number three driver and a box end wrench. Well, probably Alonzo, but he couldn't get the pilot to so much as look at a repair issue.

He'd just back away with his hands up, declaring ignorance and clumsiness. "I just fly 'em. I don't fix 'em," he'd say. Danziger suspected that he just didn't want to cross the contract line between technicians and operators. Even on planet G889, far outside station influence, old boundaries proved harder to cross than anybody thought.

On the stations, an operator caught working on a piece of equipment could have his contract pulled for clause violation. In the long run, it was probably better for Alonzo to be completely ignorant of the workings of the ship he flew than risk losing a lucrative pay contract for being so bold as to tighten a loose bolt.

Meanwhile, the technician could understand in theory how the machine was to work to aid in its repair, but absolutely was not allowed to operate it for the same fear of contract breach. This mindset made for some hellish red tape at times and delayed many a project, causing Danziger no end of frustration. He tried his best to seek out contract situations that allowed him to do both—fix it and operate it.

Now, underneath the rover, he was in the best of all possible worlds, fixing with an eye to operating—and even better, they were modifying for increased performance. Now that was worth working on.

Danziger watched and listened as Zeke and Walman explained their modifications, making mental notes and occasionally asking questions for clarification just in case he had to do any repairs to their work later on. He was impressed.

"How fast do you think she'll run now?" he asked as they all crawled free of the rover's underbelly.

"She'll keep up with the rail, I feel sure," Walman answered.

"And that's under a heavier load than we'll probably ever put her to," Zeke added as he wiped his hands on a free towel. "Those things are built to haul massive loads under low speeds. We just tweaked it in the other direction," the former ZED said with a grin. "Did you know that on Callisto what we just did was completely illegal?"

"It's probably illegal anywhere that Hummer has a corporate presence," Walman grimaced. "When they set up their G889 office, we'll all go to jail."

"I'll be happy to go to jail then, just as long as we can make faster time to New Pacifica now," Danziger responded, clapping Walman on the shoulder. "I can't wait to tell Devon we're going to be able to turn her 20 klicks a day into more like 100 or better."

"Martin will be glad to hear there'll be more riding and less walking," Walman laughed.

"Hell, so am I," Danziger responded with a grin as they all went in for lunch.

Over lunch, the group discussed the plans for the next day.

"Julia and her team will take the rover and go back to the Council ship," Danziger was saying.

"What if there's a problem with the sleep chamber?" Julia asked. "Those things were very unreliable before. I mean, we lost six of eight."

Unconsciously, everyone looked at Morgan. "Hey, don't blame me, guys," he immediately jumped to his own defense. "I just did what Bennett told me."

"Bennett or Riley?" Magus asked suspiciously.

"Whoever it was, I just followed orders," Morgan replied.

"At any rate, we lost those six on revival and Bennett and Elizabeth both died of revival complications," Julia continued in concern.

"Did they?" Yale interjected. "We don't know that the particle itself didn't play a significant role in their demise."

"But not of the other six," Julia replied. "I hope to be able to input better revival commands than before, but still it's a risk. Those chambers make me nervous. I'd like to have someone there who can work on it if need be."

"Well, Alonzo's got the most sleep jumping experience," Magus suggested, giving the dark haired pilot a questioning look.

"I just sleep in 'em, I don't fix 'em," he responded with a wry grin. At Danziger's immediate look of suspicion, Alonzo continued more seriously, "I mean it. I don't know the first thing about the insides."

Unconsciously, everybody looked at Danziger. "Okay, so I'll go in case there's something that needs to be worked on. But I'll need a reference manual. Yale, how's your database on cold sleep systems?" he asked.

Yale did a quick internal reference check, then nodded. "I do have data available," he began, "but I have no idea if it will be what's needed."

"At least we have something to work with," Julia concluded. "So, John, Yale, and I will be going?" she suggested.

"There's not room for four in the cab of the rover," Baines interjected solemnly. "It's a squeeze for three. Someone could ride in the back, but with those animals out there I don't think you'll want to risk it without some kind of protective screen rigged up."

The room went quiet as everyone considered his words. The strange predators that had attacked Uly and True still roamed the grasslands outside the perimeter. Everyone by now had seen them circling the compound or stalking buffalo. They were savagely efficient in their attacks and deadly fast.

The Terrian word for them, according to their Terrian dreamers, sounded like brraku. Yale informed them that the original colonists had named them barracuda after a ferocious earth fish that the brraku resembled in an odd way with their reflective scale-like skins and tapering heads with no visible ears and rows of sharp teeth. Barracuda had caught on with the Eden group as well, having a more pronounceable feel for most of them, even though Uly and True interchanged the two words freely.

Danziger considered the logistics of creating a defensive enclosure for the back of the rover for a moment. They didn't have much by way of proper raw materials for something like that—at least that wouldn't take several days of fabrication.

But enclosing the bed would make it possible to take Uly and True along—he knew Devon would want to see Uly and he didn't want to leave True behind himself. Unfortunately, that would leave one or both kids exposed to what he considered to be excessive danger.

He realized that the members of the group had stopped conversing and were looking at him for a decision. He took a deep breath. He didn't like it, but he didn't have to like something to know it was the right thing to do.

"Julia and I will take the rover and go get Devon in the morning. That way everyone can ride in the safety of the cab. Everyone else will stay at camp where it's safe," he darted a sharp look in the direction of the kids to forestall the protest he knew was coming—especially from Uly.

Then Danziger reached out to squeeze Uly on the shoulder and continued, "We'll carry plenty of gearsets with us so you can talk to your mom, Uly, just as soon as she's awake enough to talk to you. I can also consult with Yale if need be about any work that needs to be done to the cold sleep capsule."

"I agree," Yale added. "The colonists' records on indigenous wildlife discuss these barracuda in clear terms. Until the herds of buffalo move on, they are a real threat to anyone who passes into their territory. Anyone leaving the safety of the compound should be securely enclosed in the rover."

"That means we're here until the buffalo move on, maybe for weeks," Morgan stated in realization. As no one really wanted to pull up stakes from the comforts of civilization, Danziger's plan was readily accepted by everyone but Alonzo.

As the rest of the group exited the dining area, Alonzo pulled Danziger aside. "I don't know about this, John," he said quietly. "I'd feel better if you had someone else along for added protection. Those creatures are pretty bold. I've seen them testing the outer limits of the perimeter, like they're seeing how close they can get before they set off the alarm."

"I know what you mean," Danziger responded. "But it's just too exposed in the back. For that matter, I don't know if the cab could withstand a combined attack. I watched two of them take down a buffalo that had to outweigh them by better than a thousand pounds."

Both men suppressed a shiver. Danziger had feared for his physical safety before, usually in spacewalks, sometimes in bar fights, but had never had to face something like these animals. In vids, old earth animals were majestic and compelling; in reality, those big predators were terrifying. Unlike a drunk dock worker, those barracuda had no fear of the consequences of ripping a person's head off.

"While we're gone," Danziger continued seriously as they made their way down the hall to the med lab, "you keep an eye on things for me. I don't feel good about leaving True so soon after she was so sick."

"True is just fine, Danz," Alonzo assured him. "She's gotten nearly as good at Dreaming as Uly already."

"That's another thing," Danziger added. "It took Uly months to change that much. Why is she so different?"

"I don't know," Alonzo answered, shaking his head. "The Terrians still say that Uly is special, that they've done something for him that they've never done for any human child. But I'm stronger on the Dreamplane than he is and True is catching up quickly. I just hope he'll be able to deal with it."

"In that case," Danziger concluded, "I'll leave you to handle the sibling rivalry."

Alonzo gave him a sidelong glance. "So Uly and True are brother and sister now?" he asked pointedly, one eyebrow cocked suspiciously.

He was amused by Danziger's change of expression as the possible interpretation of his words crossed his friend's mind. To his credit, he didn't blush, but gruffly covered by saying, "You know what I meant, Solace."

"I just know what you said, John," Alonzo said, following the tall mechanic into the med lab. "Only you know what you meant."

The next morning found Danziger and Julia loading various supplies into the cab of the rover. He picked up a storage box and hefted it into the floor in front of the passenger's seat with a grunt. "What all have you got in this thing, doc?" he asked, rubbing his lower back.

"We don't know what we might run into in reviving Devon," Julia explained. "I'm just trying to be prepared for any eventuality."

He helped her into the seat, then wedged a box of tools beside her medical equipment, barely leaving her enough room to put her feet. "What is all this?" she asked.

"Preparations for any eventuality," he said with a grin, looking up at her, then backing away to make room for Alonzo to step onto the side rail for a farewell kiss.

Danziger walked around the front of the rover to find True and Uly waiting for him. "You guys be good for Yale, you hear?" he instructed gently, reaching down to give each a caress on the head. To his surprise, both kids threw their arms around him and he dropped to one knee to talk to them.

"Hey, don't worry," he began gently wrapping an arm around each of them. "We should be back in a couple of days with your mom safe and sound. You can both get me on gear any time." At True's immediate protest of disbelief, he added, "I promise to keep it on, okay?"

True and Uly both nodded, then True said, "Be careful, dad. The Terrians have warned us about the brraku. They say they are dangerous to humans."

"I can imagine," Danziger replied, keeping his tone light for the children's sake.

"Tell my mom that I love her," Uly said, tears welling up in his eyes.

"I'll do that," Danziger promised. "And you keep your gear on too. She's gonna want to talk to you just as soon as she wakes up. I bet your name is the first word out of her mouth."

Yale came up to take the youngsters in tow. "I'll take good care of them, John," he said gently. "You and Julia be careful and keep in touch with base."

"Here you go," Magus said as she stepped forward with a magpro and the pistol. "Fully charged and ready to go. I just hope you don't have to use 'em."

Danziger nodded, then stepped easily up into the tall vehicle, reaching down to take the weapons Magus extended to him. He stowed them carefully, then closed the door. Julia gave him a nod and Alonzo wished them a safe trip, then hopped down and closed the passenger door.

"Vehicle start," Danziger ordered, reassured by the quick response of the engine as it started. He carefully navigated the lumbering mining vehicle to the edge of the perimeter as everyone backed away to a safe distance. He was glad to see Walman with one of the other magpros at the ready, just in case the barracuda decided to take advantage of the breach in the perimeter as they passed through.

To everyone's relief, there were none of the animals in sight as they rumbled out of camp and back into the winding rocky pass that led to the Council ship—to Devon.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Danziger was glad to have a relatively smooth surface to try out the modifications Zeke and Walman had done to the rover's transmission and drive train. To his extreme satisfaction, instead of its typical whine, the rover only produced a low purr as it quickly accelerated far past its previous top speed. Only the twists and turns of the pass prevented him from opening it up even further.

"Hey, Walman," he called into his gear.

"Yeah, Danz. How's it running?" came the response.

"Like a top. You guys did great," Danziger answered with a grin.

"Glad to be of help," Walman stated. "I'll let Zeke know his work is appreciated."

"It sure is. You guys give the ATV a good overhaul while I'm gone," Danziger instructed, only half-joking.

"He'll put wings on it and turn it into a glider," Walman laughed again. "That Zeke is a mad genius."

"If he thinks he can manage it, put him to work," Danziger said, then signed off, keeping his gear at the ready.

"Wow," Julia commented. "I can tell we're moving a lot faster."

"They did some pretty unorthodox things to this old rover's gearbox, but it worked," Danziger added. "We should make good time. Too good. Adair is going to be pretty disappointed that we've only gone about 6 miles in a month."

"She'll understand, John," Julia tried to reassure him. "There were extenuating circumstances."

"Looking back at the last several weeks," Danziger laughed, "I'd say extenuating is an understatement."

Back at camp, Bess and Morgan sat outside watching Uly and True play in the dirt of the clearing.

"Morgan," Bess began. "Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?" Morgan answered suspiciously. Bess's conversations sometimes took introspective turns that made him a bit nervous.

"Dreaming. Do you miss dreaming?" she replied, running her hair ribbon through her fingers absently.

"Not really," Morgan answered. "It's only been a day since the sunstone died."

"It didn't die, Morgan," Bess retorted firmly. "It just gave out."

"Sorry," he quickly apologized. He didn't want to hurt the planet's feelings, or Bess's for that matter. "Do you miss it?"

"I do," she answered sadly. "It was like Mom was always there in the back of my mind. I could feel her just watching, listening. And I could talk to you and John too. Sometimes I could tell you were there even when we weren't talking."

"Just me," Morgan asked uncertainly, "or Danziger too?"

"Actually, Morgan honey," Bess answered honestly, "it was mostly John. He and I had a pretty close bond with Mom."

At Morgan's downcast look, she reached out to take his hand. "But yours got a lot stronger. I could feel you talking to Zeke, even when we were waiting for True. You did really good." She looked at him intently, her blue eyes meeting his brown with pride. "He wouldn't have made it through all that without you, you know."

Morgan gave her a sheepish grin, then looked out to where Zeke and Walman stood looking at the ATV.

"I'm going to see if the guys need some help," he offered.

Bess reined in her desire to ask what he knew about ATVs and let him go.

As Morgan walked up, he could see Baines crossing the grounds to join them. "What are you guys up to?" Morgan asked.

"Well, we're debating whether or not to overhaul the ATV," Walman began.

"I say we take the rail and go get my perimeter alerts," Baines spoke up as he walked up to the group.

"Out there?" Morgan asked, pointing across the brilliant green savanna. "There are who knows how many of those barracuda things out there."

"That's why we need those alerts," Baines explained. "If I know Danziger and Adair, the minute they get back, they'll be pushing to get us on the road again. Even with the perimeter in place, we'll have to double our guard to keep those thing at bay."

"Baines, you don't even know if they survived the storm," Walman countered. "We could be risking our lives for four piles of scrap." Baines looked thoughtful at this. "Zero!" Walman called to the construction robot standing at a short distance.

"Yes," Zero replied politely as he stiffly approached the small group, "how may I be of service?"

"Can you sense any of our perimeter alerts out there?" Walman asked.

"One of the alerts is located approximately two hundred yards from the northwestern edge of the camp," Zero immediately replied. "Another is located approximately five hundred yards from camp in a northerly direction."

"The other two must still be out of range," Baines conjectured. "We could get the first two at least."

"Which would be useless without the other two to complete the circle around camp," Walman added.

"I still say we go get them," Baines replied.

Walman gazed out over the prairie, then made up his mind. "Then let's go," he stated firmly. He detached Zero's head and carried it over to the dunerail, pausing long enough to pick up the magpro as he went. "You coming?" he asked Baines, who seemed frozen to his spot now.

Then Baines gave a quick nod and the two men hopped in the dunerail and rode off.

"That was stupid," Morgan stated in disbelief as he watched them drive away.

"It has to be done," Zeke answered evenly. "Somebody has to do it."

"I still think they're stupid. They could have waited on Danziger to bring the rover back," Morgan answered.

"The rail is still faster and easier to maneuver," Zeke replied. He turned to face Morgan with a thoughtful expression. "I think you're afraid."

Morgan began to deny it, then realized he would just sound juvenile. "Yes," he stated firmly. "I'm terrified by those things. They are savage, unpredictable animals. And if Walman and Baines aren't scared of them, they're even dumber than I thought they were."

"Of course they're scared," Zeke responded, gazing off again across the grass to watch the two men load up the first of the alerts. "But you can't live in fear. That's not living."

"Yeah," Morgan murmured guiltily, "but what about dying?"

"The coward dies a thousand deaths," Zeke began.

Deep into the winding paths, Danziger and Julia rode quietly, each lost in their own thoughts. "What do you see happening when we get there?" Danziger asked softly.

"If the cold sleep unit is still functioning properly, we'll begin the revival process," Julia replied. "I have two injections that must be administered simultaneously in order to begin recovery. I'll administer one, you'll do the other."

"Then?" he asked.

Julia looked at him with that quiet seriousness she always seemed to possess. "Then we wait and hope," she replied.

Another half hour brought them within sight of the open valley where the Council ship rested. It too had turned bright green with the passing storm. Danziger kept his eyes peeled for any signs of the brraku, but so far he'd seen very few of the buffalo they seemed to be preying on. He hoped that was a good sign.

The terrain was even and smooth and he was able to push the rover to previously untouched speeds. He was gratified by the acceleration and performance. Zeke was indeed a mad genius. He wondered how work was progressing on the ATV.

Back at camp, the ATV sat ignored as Walman, Baines, and Zeke poked and disassembled the two battered perimeter units they'd brought back.

"They're fixable," Baines sighed. "I can't believe it."

"Well, those things are made to be tough," Walman added, pulling a panel off the side of one to take a closer look at its inner workings.

"Did you get any readings off the other two?" Zeke asked.

"Nope," Baines replied. "I don't think we got Zero close enough to their location to pick them up."

"Then somebody's got to go back out there for the other two," Zeke concluded. "And since I know roughly where they are, I'll go."

"You can't go by yourself," Walman said, shouldering the magpro. "Baines, you stay here and keep working on those things. Zeke and I'll go after the others."

"No," Zeke said, taking the magpro. "You need to keep working on these. You might even call in True to give you a hand. I watched her help Danziger with that solar power converter the other day. She's good."

"It's too risky to go alone," Baines added. "Someone's got to watch while the other loads up the alert."

"Did you guys see any signs of barracuda out there?" Zeke asked. Both men shook their heads no. "Then I'll be okay. Those things always seemed to keep their distance from me. But I do want to get my handgun from Yale."

Zeke walked off into the complex and into the ops center, calling for Yale as he went. Morgan met him in the hallway. "Yale and Bess are with the kids in the library area doing some classwork," Morgan offered.

"I need the handgun Yale took when you guys caught me," Zeke explained. "I'm going after the other two perimeter alerts."

"Okay," Morgan answered, "but the magpro is more powerful, isn't it?"

"That's the problem," Zeke answered. "The handgun has a stun setting. I'm not going to be killing anything out there unless absolutely necessary. My killing days on this planet are over—with the exception of Riley and anybody working for him."

"I thought you and Mom took him out," Morgan said in disappointment.

"Nope, just wounded him," Zeke replied as Morgan led him to the med lab cabinet where Zeke's various equipment had been loaded. "He's pretty tough. It'd take more that we could launch at him under that short a notice to take him out." At Morgan's sad look, Zeke added, "Don't think we didn't try, though."

They looked over the pieces of cybernetic gear that covered the shelf. "What do you need out of all this?" Morgan asked, a look of distaste on his face. However, he realized the gaucheness of his attitude and quickly schooled his expression to one of mere interest. He didn't want to hurt Zeke's feelings. But in glancing over at the former ZED, he saw that Zeke looked even more appalled by the pieces of equipment that he had.

"I never want to touch any of this again," Zeke said, repressing a shudder. "But the handgun is too useful not to take." He reached out and selected the pistol with its body armor holster. Running his fingers across it, he considered going to get his body armor as well.

However, as useful as it might be, he just couldn't bring himself to put on the black armor suit of a ZED. That part of his life was over. He'd have to take his chances in his supertough skin, just like any other genetically altered mutant being, he thought grimly.

"Well, that's it," Zeke stated, strapping the holster to his thigh. "I'll be back later."

"Who's going with you?" Morgan asked as Zeke quickly strode down the hallway and back out the door of the complex toward the dunerail.

"I'm going solo," he answered, climbing into the seat.

"That's not a good idea," Morgan disagreed. "You need somebody to watch out for you while you load up the alerts."

"Zero can let me know if something's coming," Zeke said, gesturing at the head of the construction robot.

"My scanning capabilities are functioning properly," Zero offered.

"How is Zero going to shoot whatever is trying to jump you?" Morgan replied, then took a deep breath. He couldn't believe what he was about to do. He ran over to grab the magpro—he hadn't killed anything bigger than a bug on this planet and felt no moral obligation toward pacifism—then climbed into the passenger seat and said, "I'm going with you."

"Are you sure?" Zeke asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Morgan responded, trying to sound far more confident than he felt. "Hey, Walman, Baines," he called to the two men working. "Tell Bess I went to help Zeke bring in those other two perimeter units. If I get killed by one of those things out there—" he began, but couldn't think of what to say.

"Remind her that the brave man only dies once and it was his turn," Zeke added, then drove off at a higher rate of speed than Morgan thought was entirely necessary.

Danziger also drove at a higher rate of speed than Julia thought was entirely necessary as they spotted the Council ship in the distance. "When we get there," Julia began over the jolts of the terrain, "it'll take a while to be sure that the unit is still in good working order. We won't be able to bring her out of it immediately."

Danziger must have gotten the message because he did back off a little on the speed. "Now's as good a time as any to talk about one other thing," Julia continued. Danziger looked at her intently, his blue eyes sharp with suspicion.

"Talk about what?" he asked with that steely edge to his voice she'd come to know well over the past several months of travel with the toughminded mechanic.

"One of these injections is a dose of Uly's DNA," she explained.

"No way," Danziger protested. "I saw what that stuff did to you. It's too dangerous."

"It's a different formulation, John," Julia continued peaceably. "The DNA has a tremendous boosting effect on all bodily systems. For the serum to have time to work, we'll need to give her all the metabolic support we can. This is her best chance."

"No," Danziger continued firmly. "Experimenting with that stuff in the first place was wrong and you know it. The Terrians do the healing on their terms. We will not be stealing the planet's powers for our own use." Julia was surprised to hear John defending the Terrians and the planet so passionately.

"I've already asked Alonzo to speak with the Terrians," Julia said soothingly, "and they agreed to let us use this." He continued to look at her sharply. "John, I do not take this lightly at all," she assured him. "I know what this DNA does to a person. That's why I want to warn you."

Danziger ran a hand through his tangled curls and sighed. "What?" he asked resignedly.

"Devon will very likely not be herself while this DNA is in her system," Julia began. "I have no idea what she'll say or do or how she'll react. She could be violent or hallucinatory. You may have to help me subdue her. I can't take the risk of sedating her, so we'll just have to ride it out."

"Okay," Danziger responded evenly as they navigated the last several hundred yards to the ship. "Whatever lies ahead, I'm ready for it--if it will get Adair back safe and sound."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

They parked the rover as close to the entrance to the Council ship as they could, Danziger aware of the possibility of being forced to make a run for it should the barracuda come calling. One eye always on the horizon, he and Julia quickly loaded the equipment and supplies they'd brought into the hatch of the ship.

They were glad to see the lights come up as they entered. Apparently all was still well with the power grid. Danziger walked over to the cold sleep capsule where Devon Adair's still form stood, shrouded in a misty white glow. He hadn't seen her in nearly three weeks. He didn't expect his first sight of her to affect him quite the way it did.

"Snow White. Sleeping Beauty," he murmured, reaching out unconsciously to touch the side of the sleep tube.

"What?" Julia asked from across the room.

"Nothing," he replied, snatching his hand back as if burned by the cold. Danziger walked over to where Julia was busily arranging her equipment, still tossing glances back at the princess in ice. She was that beautiful, that untouchable. He wondered whatever for a second could have made him think that maybe someday she would have any interest in him as a man. She outclassed him by light years. He shrugged it off and bent over the unit controls with Julia.

"So far, everything looks well within parameters," the doctor was saying in relief as she began to input data into the control panel. "Her life signs show perfect hibernation." Julia set out several other injections on the work surface, selecting one for Danziger. She passed it to him.

"This is the DNA," she said. "As soon as the unit opens, give it to her. Then you'll have to support her while I inject the serum."

Danziger turned the injection over in his hand, readying it for use. Then he nodded. Julia looked nervous. "She'll be fine, doc," he reassured her, again making those promises he had no way of keeping. "She only looks like a pushover. She's tough. She'll get through this."

He reached up to touch the call button on his gear and spoke briefly to Yale. "We're getting ready to start reviving her. It may be touch and go for a while, but we'll call back when she's stabilized," he assured the older man.

Yale's warm voice came back to them over gear, "Everything will be fine, John, Julia. We have faith in you and in Devon."

Taking visible comfort from Yale's words, Julia input the revival commands as Danziger signed off, pulling the gear free of his hair and tossing onto the nearest table. He then carefully removed Uly's little handmade Terrian staff from the door and set it to the side.

Danziger's heart began to pound anxiously as the sleep chamber's voice module began to declare revival in process. Julia stood over the controls tweaking the revival process expertly for optimal outcome.

At last the unit door unlatched with a whoosh. He pulled it aside to catch Devon as she began to slump, pressing the injection into her neck. Her skin was so cold to the touch. Julia quickly pressed the serum injection to her as well, then ran the diaglove over her as Danziger gathered Devon's limp form into his arms. "Put her down over there," Julia stated, gesturing across the room.

She didn't seem to weigh anything as he crossed the room with her, gently placing her onto the bed. Elizabeth and Bennett had gasped for air, fighting for consciousness when they'd been awakened, but Devon just lay there still and quiet. At last, she took in a deep breath, but it was a calm, even breath. It made him nervous.

Julia worked steadily and intently, diaglove and instruments checking, adjusting. At last she leaned back and said, "Now we wait."

"How is she?" Danziger asked, completely on edge.

"She's still asleep, but I think that's probably a good thing. The more natural the transition out of cold sleep, the better. Plus her body's energy needs to be concentrated on healing right now," Julia explained. Then the doctor gave him a sharp look of warning. "That doesn't mean we let our guard down. She could wake up fighting at any moment."

Danziger looked down at the sleeping princess on the bed. She didn't seem capable of much of a fight right then. Julia pulled a blanket out to cover her as she rested, then turned back to the diagnostic panel to watch Devon's vitals.

"John?" came a whisper. "John? Where are you?"

He looked down to see Devon's mouth moving. "Right here, Dev. I'm right here," he answered softly, reaching out to take her small cold hand in his. With her other hand, she reached out and grabbed at his shirt. "Don't leave me, Danziger," she ordered quietly, her eyes still closed. "Please don't leave me."

"I won't leave you, I promise," he said firmly, glad to make a promise that for once he could keep.

Out on the savanna, Morgan watched intently for any signs of the wild animals that stalked the plains. They were extremely difficult to spot when still, their reflective scales causing them to blend into the surrounding vegetation easily. It was easier to catch sight of them on the move and he began watching the tops of the grass for signs of something parting the blades below.

Fortunately, the buffalo were not grazing close by at the moment. Hopefully, most of the barracuda were off lunching somewhere in their vicinity. His concentration was so focused that the sound of Zero's chipper voice made him jump in surprise. "I have located a perimeter alert sensor approximately 200 yards dead ahead," Zero informed them.

"Don't say 'dead'," Morgan commented in an undervoice.

"Drove you right to it, didn't I?" Zeke bragged.

"Yeah, very good," Morgan replied, less than enthusiastically. "Now let's load this thing up and get to the other one."

"Calm down, Morgan," Zeke said easily as he pulled alongside the battered sensor. "I told you those animals don't like me very much. They keep their distance." Zeke hopped out to check the sensor's condition, making sure it wouldn't fall apart the minute he attempted to load it.

"Why is that, do you think?" Morgan asked, still nervously scanning the grass for signs of movement.

"Honestly, I don't think they like how I smell," Zeke responded, satisfied that the unit would come off the ground in one piece and not hundreds. He lifted it into the back seat, strapping it in carefully with some webbing.

"What do you smell like to them?" Morgan wondered aloud. "You had a shower, maybe you washed it off."

Zeke got back in the driver's seat and headed toward the last known location of the final sensor. "No, I think I smell too much like technology," he answered, then added in his mind--too much like death.

She was dying—that much was certain. Devon Adair's last thought before going under for cold sleep was that she was dying, twenty-two light years from home. She was leaving behind her only child on a strange planet, with only Yale to care for him.

And John. John would watch out for him.

But John was a stranger still—even after months of travel, she didn't really know him, not like she wanted to. Even so, she trusted him to be a father to Uly, just like he'd trusted her to take care of True for him.

How could she do that? How could she leave her child alone so far away from everything he'd ever known?

She was going to die and they were going to leave her behind. Someone else would raise her child. When the colony ship came, John would meet someone who would become Uly's new mother. They would be a family, and this other woman would take her place in her son's life. And she would be dead.

Over her dead body.

Devon still had a tight grip on Danziger's shirt, even as she slept. Over an hour had passed and she still rested quietly. Even Julia had come to believe that the DNA's side effects would be much milder than she'd imagined.

So far, Devon's recovery was progressing very well, the serum had already reduced the particle count in her system and the DNA was supporting her life functions as well as could be hoped. It wasn't over yet, Julia kept telling herself, but it was certainly looking good.

Then out of nowhere, Devon's eyes snapped open. "Why did you leave me, Danziger?" she snapped angrily. "I was not dead. I am not dead. You can't do this to me!"

The look of shock on Danziger's face was both priceless and heartbreaking at the same time. "She's not in her right mind, John," Julia reminded him. "Just talk to her. Keep her calm."

"Don't you dare talk about keeping me calm, Doctor Heller," Devon put sarcastic stress on her title. "I will not be calm. You left me for dead. You were going to replace me."

She sat up, her fingers still tangled in Danziger's shirt. She tugged on it, bringing him closer. "I will not be replaced, John Danziger," she threatened furiously. "I am not dead and you will not replace me with some other woman."

Danziger blushed. He couldn't help it. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? At the same time, her words stirred up memories—the dreams he'd had of Ellie and Devon begging him not to leave them behind. And he had. He'd left both of them. Ellie had died. He didn't blame Devon for being mad at him. He was furious with himself.

"I'm sorry," was all he could think of to say. "We weren't going to replace you. Nobody could take your place."

"You remember that, Danziger," she snapped. "I am Uly's mother. Not some other woman. You might be his father, but no one else will ever be his mother but me, do you understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am," Danziger responded. He began to see now where her worry lay. She'd practically turned Uly over to him when she got so sick, just like he'd done with True when he was nearly dead of heat exhaustion that time looking for water.

She trusted him to raise her son, but not with some other woman as his mother. He could understand where she was coming from. "You are Uly's mom, Devon. Nobody could replace you in his heart," he reassured her.

She nodded, then lay back down, never releasing her grip on his shirt. After a little while, she slept again.

Julia looked at him with approval. "She's getting better," the doctor commented. "I'd say give her another couple of hours and the worst will be over."

He tried to pull the folds of his shirt free of Devon's grip, but to no avail. He settled for dragging a stool over to sit on while he waited for her to turn loose of him on her own.

Out on the prairie, Morgan had a deathgrip of his own on the rollbar of the dunerail. Zeke's driving was making him nauseous. "Do we have to hit ever rut and mudhole on this entire prairie?" he groaned.

"Just trying to make best time," Zeke replied absently.

"Any particular reason?" Morgan asked, hoping his breakfast would stay down.

"I think we're being tailed," Zeke answered, casting a quick look over his shoulder.

"Oh please no," Morgan found himself exclaiming, "not by barracuda I hope."

"Yep," Zeke responded merrily. "I make two of them keeping us under watch."

"Can you outrun them?" Morgan asked, nervously casting glances of his own behind them.

"That's what I'm working on," Zeke answered. "Still want me to slow down?"

"No, no!" came Morgan's enthusiastic reply. "Keep up with the breakneck speed—just try not to break our necks literally."

"Perimeter alert sensor three hundred feet ahead and closing," Zero offered helpfully.

"Thanks, Zero," Zeke responded. "Keep a sensor peeled for any big animals while you're at it, okay?"

"I sense two large quadrupeds about four hundred yards west of our position, moving at 20 feet per second," Zero stated in his customarily cheerful voice.

"They're too fast for us," Zeke answered. "We'll have to make a stand, Morgan. Do you know how to use that thing?" He gestured at the magpro.

"In theory," Morgan replied helplessly. "I've never actually shot it before."

"Take this then," Zeke said, passing him the pistol. "It'll be easier to use and has an autotrack feature. That ought to make your aim better."

Morgan took it with a shiver. "I never shot anything before," he complained.

"Don't worry—it's on heavy stun only," Zeke replied as they raced across the field, coming to a sudden stop next to the fallen sensor. "Listen, some quick advice for you. Shoot anything that moves but me. If they bite you, push into their mouth, don't pull. Their teeth curve backwards. If you pull, you'll just rip the flesh off. Push and they'll eventually let you go."

Morgan felt completely sick now.

Zeke pulled Morgan out of the vehicle and pushed him to stand against the rail. Then Zeke took up a position about four feet in front of him in a slight crouch of readiness. "What about you?" Morgan stammered in fright. "Where's your weapon?"

"Who needs weapons?" Zeke flashed him a devilish grin. "But you might want to call camp so they'll know where to find us."

Morgan touched his gear, his fingers fumbling. "Base camp, we're being chased by barracuda. Please locate our coordinates."

"Morgan, Morgan, honey, is that you?" came Bess's cry of disbelief and fear. "What are you doing?"

"We went after the perimeter alerts, sweetheart," Morgan replied, suddenly completely calm as a pair of barracuda heads appeared at the edge of the slight clearing they sat in.

"Why, Morgan?" Bess's cry was heartbreaking.

The barracuda began to circle them, making a low whuffing sound that vibrated across the grass. "Somebody had to do it," Morgan replied evenly. He didn't Bess to worry about him. "Bess, I'm going to have to let you go for a minute. Zeke and I have some business to take care of. Love you." Then, turning a deaf ear to Bess's pleas, he turned off his gear and tossed it into the seat behind him.

"You take the one that doesn't jump on me," Zeke said, stepping out to the side carefully.

Suddenly Morgan heard a whuffing sound from behind him. "A third quadruped has entered the area," Zero said belatedly. Morgan turned to see the narrow head of a barracuda staring directly at him from its stand on the seat of the rail, long front claws creating deep scratches in the cushions.

"How about I take this one first?" Morgan asked, certain that he was going to die miserably and right then.

Zeke turned slowly to see himself reflected in the eyes and scales of the barracuda. "Works for me," he said calmly. "I'll handle these two until you get time to help out."

Morgan brought the pistol up to fire just as the barracuda leaped at him.

On the Council ship, Devon began to turn restlessly in her sleep. She was dreaming again. She was back on the stations racing to get to the ship before departure. Every door was locked against her. Years of planning, years of investment, years of pleading, and it was all down to this. The ship was leaving without her. In her dreams she ran, she fought against station security trying to hold her back, she ran again.

Julia stood next to the bed, sediderm in hand. "Hold her, John!" she yelled. "Please try to hold her." But despite Danziger's best efforts, Devon was uncontrollable in her fear and agitation. They couldn't make out her words for the most part, but her cries were desperate.

Julia didn't want to use the sediderm, the effects could set her back seriously, but they were running out of options. Danziger already bore a long, bleeding scratch down one cheek from wrestling with Devon. He was afraid to do more for fear he would hurt her.

The only thing he could think of was something he'd never managed to do completely by himself. Sending up a call for help whether Mom could hear him or not, Danziger pulled Devon into his chest and pressed his hand against her forehead.

Devon ran to the last boarding entrance only to see Uly's face pressed against the window. "Mom," he mouthed in the silence. But she couldn't get the door open. She fought against the lock with all her might, watching as the ship pulled away without her.

Then she felt strong hands pulling at her, pulling her through the station wall onto the surface of G889.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Devon stood on the Dreamplane, swirling white, someone's arm still around her, someone's hand still pulling her back.

"You okay, Dev?" came a deep, familiar voice in her ear.

"Where am I?" she asked.

The hands loosened their hold on her. "No pain on the Dreamplane," John, for it was John who stood with her, replied easily. She stumbled a little as he let go of her, but he reached out to support her until she stood steady on her feet again.

"This is the Dreamplane?" she asked, her voice echoing back around her the way the Dreamplane always did. "Where are the Terrians?"

"No Terrians, just us," John replied. She turned to look at him, amazed by the sight of him. On the Dreamplane, he seemed to stand even taller, stronger. His face radiated strength and tenderness. He glowed with a kind of inner confidence. He was beautiful. She couldn't keep looking at him, but she couldn't turn away.

He was the one who broke the stare between them, glancing off at the landscape that surrounded them. "It's beautiful here, isn't it?" he asked, his voice rolling around her like distant thunder. She still looked at him.

"It's amazing," she breathed. "Why aren't there any Terrians?"

"We're Dreaming on another level of the Dreamplane," he began. "The planet's level. It's a really long story." He paused for a moment, then looked down at her and said, "I need to look in on you in the real world to be sure you've settled down, okay?"

She didn't understand any part of what he was talking about but nodded absently. John shifted part of his consciousness back to the ship where he sat behind Devon, one arm around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides, the other hand on her forehead, pressing her against him. "How's she doing, doc?" he asked Julia quietly.

"Fine now," Julia replied. "What did you do?"

"Dreaming," he answered. "It's hard work though, gotta go back."

Back on the Dreamplane again, it took all his concentration to keep them there. Far, far off at a distance, he could feel the planet's touch, feel the support of Terrians, but it was far, far away. Maybe he felt Alonzo and Uly as well, he wasn't sure. He wondered if True and Bess were there, lending their strength too.

The mist swirled heavily white about him and he felt himself losing hold on things. He sat down and leaned up against a rock, closing his eyes and working to keep Devon and himself right there, safely detached from reality. The landscape stabilized around him and he opened his eyes to look for her.

To his surprise, she knelt next to him, her beautiful dark auburn hair like silk, the glow of the Dreamscape turning her skin to porcelain. "Did you do this?" she asked him. "How did you bring us here?"

"I had help," he began. "A lot has happened in the past several weeks."

"How long, John? How long was I out of it?" she asked seriously.

"About a month, give or take a day," he answered, unwilling to let on that he knew exactly how many days it had been.

"How's Uly?" she asked, thoughtfully.

"He's great," John answered. "He's missed you a lot though. We all have." The Dreamplane's tendency to bring out the hidden pulled those words from him and he suspected pulled her next words from her.

"Did you miss me, John?" she leaned in closer.

"Be careful what you start in here," he replied. "This place has a tendency to bring out the truth. To make you say what you mean."

The idea that someone would actually say what they meant to her was at one time laughable. The fabulously wealthy Devon Adair been followed by sycophants and yes men from birth, pursued by the wealthy who wanted to be wealthier, the powerful who wanted more power.

She'd met hundred, thousands of educated men, cultured men, socially accomplished men and none of them had ever said what they meant. None of them had ever let on that there was any other way to do things than her way.

But from the first moment she'd met him, she'd known John Danziger was different.

The debt that crushed him could have been paid out of her monthly personal budget and never be missed. He knew that, but he refused to bow down to her. From the moment they crashed, this man, this mechanic, this drone, had stood up to her.

He'd demanded a vote. She'd nearly laughed in his face. She could have bought and sold him and his entire family a hundred thousand times over. But he stood there towering over her and demanded a vote. So they'd held a vote.

At first they'd clashed constantly as he refused to give in, refused to play by her rules. But over the past months, she'd begun to rely on him utterly, on his good sense, his practicality, his willingness to voice his opinion, his creativity, his strength. She'd begun to count on the fact that he wouldn't back down if he thought he was right, and sometimes wouldn't back down when he knew he was wrong.

She looked at him with the unclouded eyes of the Dreamplane to see him as he really was. She looked at him as he leaned back easily against the rock, totally at home in that big, rangy body of his, long legs crossed at the ankle. She took in the confident set of his jaw, those eyes that shifted from gray to blue, from cool appraisal to merry sparkle, that untamed cascade of blond hair even longer than she remembered.

She reached up to wrap a finger around one of the curls that fell into his eyes. "Did you miss me, John?" she repeated deliberately, leaning even closer.

"Every day," he answered quietly, his eyes growing bluer and a bit wider as she approached him.

She couldn't stop herself. She did what she'd wanted to do from the first minute she'd met him, from the first time he'd stood his ground against her and demanded that she look at him, listen to him, give him her time, her attention, her respect.

"I have to do this," she explained as she ran her hands up into that hair and pulled him to her, kissing him with a desire and intensity long held back.

Danziger fell out of the Dreamplane with an almost perceptible jolt. His eyes snapped open to view the inside of the Council ship. Damn his lack of concentration! However, he still held Devon against him and he took a moment to luxuriate in the feel of her.

"Are you back with me?" Julia asked. At his nod, he didn't quite trust himself to speak, she continued, "She seems fine. The particle levels are almost to zero and her bodily systems are bouncing back slowly, but steadily. I think we've done it, John."

Danziger returned her smile. "How much longer until the DNA wears off?" he made himself ask.

"About an hour, maybe less," the doctor replied. "One good thing about using the DNA is that she probably won't remember any of this. It has a tendency to affect memory storage and recall." Julia looked down guiltily as she remembered her own experimentation.

"Hey, doc," Danziger reached out his hand to grab her arm and give it a little shake. "That's all behind us, right? No hard feelings. You weren't entirely responsible for your actions."

"Not exactly," Julia elaborated. "I acted impulsively, without inhibition, but not against my will. I just hate that I don't remember some things." She blushed a little as she said this, and Danziger wondered just what might have gone on that made Alonzo so determined to bring her back.

Meanwhile Danziger took comfort in knowing that even if Devon didn't remember, and even if she wouldn't have done it under normal circumstances, there might still be a chance he could meet that same woman in the waking world—someday. He sighed softly and smoothed her hair back away from her brow as he just held her against him while she dreamed.

Bess tried again to reach Morgan on the Dreamplane. No luck. She just couldn't get through to him without Mom's help. He'd cut off his gear, that much they'd determined. Zeke's was also disabled. Walman and Baines suggested that they were just too busy to talk and would be back with them when they got freed up.

Bess couldn't help but retort, "What if they're too hurt to call in? What then?"

"We've got their coordinates," Walman admitted. "Baines, you want to go after them?"

"Let's go get the ATV," Baines responded.

"Wait just a minute," Alonzo butted in from the side. "You do that and all three vehicles are AWOL until Danziger gets back. We go on foot and Walman stays here. Baines, grab your med kit just in case. I'm getting the other magpro."

"That leaves the camp without any firepower," Walman reminded him.

"Damn," Alonzo responded. "Why couldn't this place have come equipped with a nice weapons stash as well?" He sighed once then said, "Fine then, we go out on our own."

"That is colossally stupid," Yale stated firmly. "You go out to aid two men under attack with no way to defend yourselves or them. You just became a liability. A brave liability, but a liability nonetheless."

"What do you suggest then, Yale? That we leave them out there to become barracuda chow?" Walman responded.

"I suggest that we do as Morgan said and give them a little longer to sort things out for themselves before leaping into action half cocked, so to speak," Yale replied. "Zeke is well able to take care of himself and both men were armed."

"But this is Morgan we're talking about," Baines said quietly, so as not to insult him in front of Bess. "He's not a soldier."

"He is pretty good at Venusian Bounty Hunter, though," Alonzo suggested. "Maybe Morgan has more reserves than we're giving him credit for."

Morgan Martin nearly wet himself he was so terrified by the sight of the huge beast leaping at him, teeth bared, claws extended. He fired twice into the animal before it crashed into him, pinning him to the ground beneath over four hundred pounds of ferocity.

Fortunately, the barracuda was stunned into oblivion before it even hit him, leaving Morgan to wrestle out from under one extended forepaw and the head. Even stunned, the force of the impact had jarred him, the animal's teeth knocking him nearly unconscious when they hit his head, the front claws grazing down his left shoulder and arm, leaving deep bleeding gashes.

He shook his head to clear his vision as he stood, wiping away what he thought was warm barracuda drool from his face, only to find that it was blood. His knees went a little weak at the sight, but then he saw Zeke wrestling with the two monsters that had him pinned down.

Morgan drew aim on the first one and missed as the animal leaped to the side out of the way. He shot again, but it ran, leaving only one facing Zeke. Morgan tried to get a clear shot at it, but Zeke kept getting in the way. He realized it was because the animal had Zeke's forearm in its mouth.

He watched helplessly as Zeke planted his feet and pushed his arm against the creature's jaws, just like he'd instructed. With his free hand, he repeatedly punched the animal in the side of the head. To Morgan's surprise, the move worked and the barracuda let go, backing away with a gagging motion. He took advantage of the distraction to aim and fire, dropping the animal to the ground with a thud.

"Thanks, Morgan," Zeke panted.

"No problem, big fella," Morgan managed to respond. He had turned to pick up his gear when the third beast sprang back at him from the side. With inhuman speed, Zeke leaped forward to knock Morgan down and out of the animal's reach, knocking the pistol out of his hand and under the rail.

Zeke then began to turn to face the animal, but even as he did, a momentary look of surprise crossed his face and he crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.

"The failsafe! No!" Morgan cried in realization. The program had interpreted Zeke's actions as an attack on him rather than a defense. He scrambled underneath the rail for the lost pistol, looking back to see Zeke on his side, green eyes wide open and defenseless.

The barracuda sensed an easy kill and batted the former ZED in the face with a blow that would have crushed the skull of a normal human being. It then proceeded to take Zeke by the leg and drag him off into the grass at a quick pace.

"No!" Morgan yelled as he dragged himself free of the rail's undercarriage and ran after the animal, firing as he went, his gear forgotten.

At camp, Bess and the others waited for word from the two men. At last, Morgan's voice came over the gear channel. "Hey, camp!" he called to them.

"Morgan, honey, are you all right?" Bess cried into her gear, tears of relief streaming down her face.

"Well," Morgan began as he dragged Zeke's heavy body across the side of the rail and into the passenger seat. "I've been better. Zeke's down. We're coming in."

"What do you mean Zeke's down?" came Alonzo's worried reply.

"Down. Failsafe." Morgan could only grunt out one word answers as he hauled the heavy perimeter alert to the side of the vehicle and strapped it in.

"What's wrong?" Bess asked.

"Just getting the perimeter sensor in the rail," Morgan responded, a little out of breath from his exertions.

"Leave the sensor and get yourself back here," Alonzo commanded.

"Too late, already loaded," Morgan replied, easing himself into the driver's seat. "We came out here to do a job and now it's done, right Zeke?" he gave the ZED's unmoving body a punch on the arm.

He glanced over to the barracuda that he'd stunned earlier. One of them was beginning to move a little. "Can't have you guys following us," he said apologetically, then stunned them each again before driving off.

Morgan wiped sweat out of his eyes again, then realized anew that it was blood, not sweat. His left arm was getting weak. Zero kept having to correct his course to keep him headed back to the compound. Plus he was beginning to get a little lightheaded.

"Guys," he called on the open gear channel, "I might be losing blood." He looked down at the arm of his shirt and the floor of the rail. "Yep, I'm losing blood. If we don't show up soon, somebody come get us."

He looked over at Zeke, whose right eye was completely filled with blood from the three deep gashes across his face. "You look like hell, buddy," Morgan stated, then the world swirled around him and everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Morgan awoke on a bed in the med lab. He was still a little lightheaded, but mostly he was just grateful to be alive. He looked beside him to see the angelic face of his beautiful wife. He was so glad to see her. "Hey, Bess," he murmured with a smile.

"Oh, Morgan, honey, you're awake. I'm so glad you're awake," she cried, carefully stroking his cheek, keeping her hand away from the recently sealed cuts and gashes on his forehead.

"How's Zeke?" he asked.

"We don't really know," Bess answered sadly. "Baines says that his wounds are serious, but don't appear to be life threatening as far as he can tell. But unless we can get back into his programming and undo the failsafe, he's in a sort of hibernation state."

"So, get Yale and let's get in there and unlock him again," Morgan said, attempting to sit up. Residual pain shot down his arm and shoulder as he moved.

"Not now," Bess pressed him back with a firm hand. "We're going to need John to do this with us. I can't make solid enough contact with Mom by myself to get on the Dreamplane. Julia called and said that John had managed to get Devon on there while she healed. So with him here, we'll have a better chance."

"How did he manage it on his own there?" Morgan asked, mystified.

"I'd say he must have had a pretty strong motivation," Bess answered, giving her husband a soft kiss. A strong motivation indeed, she thought.

On the Council ship, Danziger had finally felt comfortable enough with Devon's sleep to lay her back down on the bed. Julia tended to the long scratch on his cheek, sealing it up so that only a red streak remained. Then the doctor ran her diaglove over her patient once again, glad to see that all her levels were approaching normal.

"She should be waking up soon," Julia said with a smile. "How about something to eat?" she asked.

"Yeah," Danziger answered. "It has been a pretty long day."

On the bed Devon stretched and yawned. "Where am I?" came her distant question.

Danziger was by her side in an instant. "Hey, Dev," he said with a smile. "You're awake on the Council ship. Julia and I have come to take you back with us."

"Danziger?" she asked, attempting to sit up. Danziger helped her sit, slipping some support behind her back.

"Yeah, it's me. You all right?" he looked at her with concern, a hint of question on his face. Did she remember the Dreamplane?

"I'm fine. Where's Uly?" she asked, her voice totally empty of any recollection that he could tell. Surely if she remembered laying a big passionate kiss on him, she'd react differently. Damn.

"Uly's fine. He's back at camp," Danziger answered.

"How long was I out?" she continued, rubbing her hand lightly across her eyes.

"It's only been about 30 days," he replied softly. "You want to talk to Uly?" He held out gear to her and she quickly accepted it, calling back to camp without hesitation.

Danziger listened as she talked to Uly, gratified by the peace and warmth it brought to her face. She could be so different around her son. At last, she signed off, dropping the gear with a tired hand and leaning her head back, eyes closed to rest.

After a bit, she opened her eyes again. "What was wrong with me?" she finally asked with a bit more energy than she'd had before.

"A nasty little creation Franklin Bennett dreamed up to keep anyone from settling this planet," Julia explained. "We've managed to isolate it and deactivate it."

"Julia managed to isolate it and deactivate it," Danziger corrected.

"It was a group effort," she countered. "Everybody helped." They looked across the bed at each other, aware of just how much effort from just how many quarters had gone into solving that particular problem.

"So, what all has happened since I was out of it?" Devon asked, her old self was beginning to return and she felt the deep need for a debriefing.

"Where do we begin?" he said with a quiet laugh. "Maybe if we start telling now, come tomorrow morning when we pull out of here, we'll have you caught up."

"Why are we waiting until tomorrow?" Devon began in her customary take charge fashion. "I'm ready to go now. How many days will it take to get to camp?"

"Well," Danziger stretched out the word to buy some time as he pulled up a stool, "we don't want to travel at night because of the barracuda, but if we leave for camp sometime in the morning, we'll get there before lunch."

At Devon's look of accusatory disbelief, he held out one hand and continued, "It's farther than it seems because Zeke and Walman souped up the transrover." At her continuing look of disbelief, he pulled Julia's line. "There have been extenuating circumstances that kept us from getting any further."

"Besides, you haven't seen camp yet," Julia replied. "When you do you'll understand why nobody was in much of a hurry to leave."

Devon tried her best to swallow her disappointment that the group had gone less than a full day's journey ahead, then remembered something. "Who's Zeke and what is a barracuda?" she asked.

Just then, a call came in from Baines over Julia's gear. She moved to the side to take it and Danziger decided it was better to start at the beginning. "It all started ten days after we put you in cold sleep," he began. "The power generator finally blew its catalyst, so I retrofit a sunstone the Martins had in its place."

Despite numerous repeated interruptions from Adair, Danziger told the story of the past several weeks, filling her in on all the happenings with Julia inserting the latest information from camp regarding the run-in Morgan and Zeke had with the barracuda while bringing back the last of the perimeter alerts.

"We'll have to get Zeke back up and running when we get back," Danziger stated.

"Are you sure about this?" Devon asked, still in shock that an actual ZED was now a part of the group. "I mean, this is a ZED."

"Zeke's all right," Danziger assured her. "A little full of himself right now, but he's been out of touch for the past 18 years."

"I still don't like it," she complained.

"Neither did I at first, but he made me a believer with the rover transmission," Danziger laughed.

Devon wanted to continue her protest, but yawned instead.

"Let's all get some shuteye," Danziger suggested. "I'm going to make a quick check on the rover. I've got it locked to voiceprint, but I still wouldn't put it past some Grendler to try to steal it." He stepped out of the sleep chamber and out into the hatch.

The next morning dawned bright and clear as Danziger loaded the equipment back into the rover. He still kept his eyes open for any sign of barracuda, especially after hearing the devastation the creatures had wreaked on Zeke and nearly Morgan.

How in the world would they manage to travel with those things roaming the countryside? Maybe with enclosures around the back of the rover, but the rail and the ATV would be harder if not impossible to protect that way. Plus, they hadn't even gotten around to working on the problem of an upcoming river crossing.

He suddenly realized that all this was no longer just his problem. Adair was back in action to help make these kinds of calls. Part of him was a little disappointed though. For the first time in his life, he'd been able to call the shots—no station bureaucrat second guessing him, no boss breathing down his neck for every second of time, every credit spent. It felt good for once to be free to act—just act. He'd miss it.

At the same time, he certainly looked forward to Adair's expertise and input, her vision and tenacity. She had a way of pulling people along with her that he hadn't quite managed to duplicate. There was a good reason they hadn't gotten very far without her.

The last of the crates was safely stowed in the rover's cab, barely leaving room for the three of them to ride. One eye on the horizon, one hand on the pistol at his side, he ran back to the ship's hatch to get Devon and Julia.

Devon was still weak, so he took her arm to help support her, ready at any moment to carry her if need be. She made it to the cab on her own, but he did give her a fairly aggressive boost into the seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd seen something move.

"Julia, you got that side?" he asked as she pulled the door closed firmly behind her.

An odd whuffing sound came from below as he quickly shut his own door. Glancing out the window, he could see the reflection of the rover's red cab in a spot where it shouldn't be. "Damn," he whispered.

Devon looked out the cab windscreen to catch her first look at a large barracuda standing on top of the wreckage of the Council ship. "John?" she began tentatively. "Can we outrun them?"

"Nope," he replied. "We're going to drive away casually and hope they aren't interested enough in us to follow." Ignoring the nervousness that ran down his spine, he started the rover and slowly backed away from the ship.

He was very, very glad to see that they didn't appear to be followed. The large animals just lifted their heads majestically and watched them with curiosity. "Looks like they already had breakfast," Devon managed to joke.

They drove in relative silence down the valley and into the rocky ravines that led to the huge open plain and the settlement compound. Danziger was on high alert, aware that the ambush he'd worried about so many weeks ago could actually occur at any moment.

"Do you want us to take the rail and come out to meet you guys?" Alonzo was asking on gear.

"No," Danziger and Devon replied simultaneously.

"There's been no sign that we're being followed," Danziger added. "It's too risky. How are Morgan and Zeke doing?"

"Morgan's healed up nicely. We need Julia to look at Zeke to be sure he's healing right. Then we need you to help bring him back online," Alonzo continued. "Morgan wants to remove the failsafe."

"I've got no problem with that," Danziger responded just as Devon broke in.

"We'll talk about it at camp, Alonzo," she interjected, then shut down the link.

"Do you have a problem with dropping Zeke's failsafe?" Danziger asked evenly.

"Yes, I do," she replied tartly. "He's a ZED. We've met a ZED before, remember? I chased a bullet around your gut for several minutes the last time we met a ZED."

"I do remember, Adair," Danziger made himself remain calm. "But Zeke isn't like that, you'll see."

Just as Devon took a breath to retort, the rover lurched twice, then stopped. "What is it?" all her argumentativeness drained away from her voice. "John, what happened?"

"No idea," he replied. Normally, he would immediately crawl under the hood or the drivetrain to find the problem, but with those barracuda anywhere out there, he felt like discretion would be the better part of valor and good sense. So he closed his eyes and began to do a mental inspection of the rover, taking into consideration the way the vehicle lurched, the speed they had been traveling, any odd movements or vibrations he'd felt, the recent modifications.

"Danziger?" Devon spoke up after a few seconds.

"Give me a minute," he replied, still mentally running down possible issues to investigate. He wanted to have a short list of the most likely candidates before leaping into action.

"I'll cover you," Adair offered helpfully. "It's dangerous out there. You don't have to go alone," she continued encouragingly.

"Devon," Julia cautioned. Sometimes Julia wondered if Devon truly had no clue.

But apparently Danziger had paid her no attention because he calmly called to Walman over gear and asked about certain modifications made to the rover. "You're sure you guys didn't touch the modulator coupling or the intake conversion?" he was asking.

After a few more questions of a similarly technical nature, Danziger signed off and reached over the two women for the box of tools on the floor. They wiggled out of the way as he pulled it across his lap, sticking a few select tools into the pockets of his vest. Then he pulled out the pistol and checked its settings.

"I'm going out to check the likely suspects," he began. "You two stay put, stay on the lookout, and let me know if you see anything coming. The magpro is right here if you need it. Morgan says they're fast and ruthless, so shoot to kill, okay?"

"Be careful, John," Julia said, but Devon was completely silent.

He gave them a nod and opened the door, taking a good look around before slipping to the ground.

"I accused him of being afraid, didn't I?" Devon said after a few seconds.

"Pretty much," Julia answered.

"That wasn't very smart," Devon added.

"No, it wasn't," Julia replied.

Out on the ground, Danziger looked around again for any sign of barracuda before crawling beneath the rover. The suspected problem that was easiest to check for was not the most likely cause of their breakdown, but he decided to check it first anyway.

With luck, that would be it. He banged his knuckles twice trying to break the seals on the cover, only to find that the connection in question was solid. No luck.

The next suspect was further in and further up. He darted a quick look around before sitting up fully under the vehicle to reach the junction between the main engine and the solar conversion panel relays. "Ladies, how's it looking up there?" he asked quietly.

"All clear for now, John," Devon replied.

"Good, I'm not able to see anything right now, so I'm counting on you to watch for me," he added. Working as rapidly as possible in the small space, he checked the suspected connections there too, only to come up short. Nothing.

In addition to his scraped knuckles, he'd managed to cut a nice sized gash in the top of his head too, he realized as he felt a warm wetness run down the side of his face. With his luck those animals could smell blood a mile off, he thought as he wiped his cheek and bleeding hand on the tail of his shirt.

His next suspect took him out from under the vehicle and under the hood. Darting a good look around, he crawled out from under the rover on the passenger side. He looked again carefully before opening the door, nearly scaring Julia and Devon to death.

"I thought you were watching," he chided.

"Not for something to come out from underneath," Devon said, a little out of breath from fright.

"What did you do to yourself?" Julia asked, taking in the blood running down his face.

"Job hazard," he explained. "Fix it real quick just in case these things are attracted to blood." The doctor grabbed the woundsealer out of her bag and went to work on his knuckles, then parted his hair to get to the gash on his head.

"Ouch," he complained. "Be careful."

"Careful or fast," Julia retorted. "Take your pick."

"Okay, fast," he answered, biting his lip against her probing touch. "I'm going under the hood. Please watch out for me, okay?"

"Of course we will," Devon assured him.

He made his way out to the front of the vehicle and opened the hood to reveal the front of the power conversion unit. A quick check with the diagnostic probe pinpointed the trouble. Unfortunately, it was going to take a few minutes to fix and he could not bring any of it into the relative safety of the cab.

"I'm going to be stuck out here for a bit," he informed them over gear. "If anything so much as breathes in my direction, let me know, okay?"

Julia and Devon waited nervously in the cab, each scanning the area as carefully as possible for any sign of movement. The rock walls rose on either side of them, rising in places too high to see past the cab of the rover.

"John?" Devon called to him. "I wish you'd let one of us come out and watch where we can really see what's out there."

"Nope," came the immediate firm reply. "Stay put. Just watch from where you are."

"There are too many blind spots from in here," she continued. "We can't see the tops of the ridges. I'm coming out with the mag pro."

"Stay put, Adair," he commanded again. "I can't work if I know you're out here. Just watch from there. It'll only be a few more minutes."

She waited as long as she could stand it, then she eased the door open. Julia just looked at her, then with a resigned sigh, handed her the mag pro. Devon looked down at it in dismay, realizing she wasn't even really sure how to turn the thing on. Weapons had never been part of her strategy in dealing with the planet.

So she passed the gun back to Julia and contented herself with standing in the door on the siderail where she could see better. Nothing. Not the first sign of movement.

Then she saw them. "John, John, get back in here," she hissed into her gear. "Two of them are walking along the top of the ridge to the left."

"My left or your left?" he asked, slowly extracting himself from the engine compartment.

"My left," she said, quietly watching as Danziger turned slowly in that direction, pulling the pistol out as he did so.

The two large animals danced down the side of the ridge into the canyon, their long strides bringing them to the bottom in only a couple of easy bounds. He'd never get to the cab in time. Those things were so fast. Her heart sank in her chest.

He was going to die. She was about to see John get ripped apart by those terrifying predators. She didn't have a weapon. There was nothing she could do. Maybe she could distract them. "John, I'm going to try to distract them," she said into her gear.

"Devon, you are going to do exactly as I say," he replied, a layer of steel in his deep voice. "You are going to be completely quiet and let me handle this, do you understand me?"

There was no arguing with that tone. He'd never talked to her like that before.

She could only watch as John raised the pistol before him and fired a shot into the ground in front of the animals. "Go on," he called to them. "Get out of here." He never moved, never wavered. He just stared them down coldly. They paced a little side to side but didn't come any closer.

"I mean it, boys," he continued firmly. "Don't make me hurt you. Go on."

Devon could only watch in wonder as the two animals turned and bounded away, leaving Danziger to return to his work under the hood. "Keep watching," he instructed over gear calmly. "They might be back with hungry friends."

But there was no sign of other animals and within a few more minutes, Danziger climbed back into the rover's cab, stowing his tools away carefully. He also had a seriously satisfied look on his face. "Look what I found in the engine compartment—it's the number three driver," he explained, holding up a tool Devon didn't recognize.

"Vehicle start," he called, and the rover rumbled to life. "Just like I thought. When they reworked the gearbox, they didn't compensate for the change in power frequency and it blew the conversion linkage," he explained seriously.

Then he realized that the two women were looking at him with dumbfounded amazement. "What?" he asked, pushing that wild blonde mop out of his face.

"You are amazing, you know that?" Devon offered. Suddenly she had a vivid image of herself grabbing a handful of curls and pulling John Danziger in to her for a deep, passionate kiss. And she almost gave in to the temptation to do just that.

Almost.

For now.

**AN: Well, there you are folks. It has been the biggest blast to do these. I do admit to having more eps planned in my head—after all, Zeke is still out of action and we've got that whole terraforming thing and the uncrossable river and who knows what else lies ahead. But my immediate goal was to explore those end of Season One issues that just got dropped with the series and handle them in a way that was episodic in nature. However, I'm going to take a break for a while to work on some stuff that pays—in theory at least. **

**Those of you who've read my bio know that I've been resisting the urge to get physical with John for a good while now. Man, I love him. . . I didn't want to get so far into the D&D thing that it would put too much closure, but I sure had to give them their moment before leaving this for a bit. I've also had lots of fun with Morgan, another favorite character of mine. To those Alonzo fans out there, I apologize that he hasn't had much to do of late. I do have some ideas for him and for Yale that I hope to explore in the future. I might slip in a oneshot or play with the 100 situations like Ifvoy is running right now. **

**So check back ever so often. Meanwhile, do let me know if these story lines paid off for you. Thanks loads for reading and reviewing!!**

**Arcole**


	6. Publication!

Sorry to do this as an update to a finished work and maybe won't fuss too much about doing it, but I really wanted to get the word out to everybody who's subscribed to my big stuff in the past.

Over the years several of you have asked if I have anything in print other than Fanfiction and the answer is SOON!

My fantasy novel The Blacksmith's Daughter is set for release on October 21 at Musa Publishing! You will be able to download it as an ebook on October 21, 2011, at their website at musapublishing dot com or on Amazon and other such sites!

I would love it if you would take a moment to friend request me-as Arley Cole of course-on Facebook so I can create some buzz for the release. Plus I will provide updates and links to the book there and on my blog at www dot arleycole dot blogspot dot com.

I can't thank you enough for reading my Fanfiction. Writing for you all made it possible to write The Blacksmith's Daughter. I would not be here without you!

Sincerely,

Arcole

Arley Cole (gotta keep the pen names as close as possible!)


End file.
